President Barack Obama The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500
Interior Secretary Sally Jewell Department of the Interior 1849 C Street, N.W. Washington DC 20240
May 6, 2014
Dear President Obama and Secretary Jewell:
We the undersigned write to urge you to halt proposed seismic airgun testing for oil and gas in the Atlantic Ocean.
Seismic airgun testing is the first step towards deep-water drilling, which would inevitably bring the Atlantic coast one step closer to the same practice that brought us the Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster. While proposed seismic airgun testing would span from Delaware to Florida, an oil spill the size of that which flowed from the Deepwater Horizon oil rig would harm sea life, ecosystems, fisheries and coastal economies along the entire East Coast. Furthermore, expanding offshore drilling to the Atlantic will only deepen our dependence on oil and gas, and worsen the impacts of climate change and ocean acidification.
Additionally, the type of seismic airgun testing used to search for oil and gas is incredibly harmful and could injure or possibly kill thousands of marine mammals and fish. Seismic airguns fire intense blasts of compressed air - almost as loud as explosives - every 10-12 seconds, 24 hours a day, for days to weeks at a time. These loud airgun blasts can be heard for many hundreds of miles in the ocean and can drive whales to abandon their habitats, go silent, and cease foraging over vast areas. At shorter distances, airguns can cause permanent hearing loss, injury, and even death for whales, dolphins and fish.
According to the Department of the Interior's own estimates, the use of airguns would injure more than 138,000 marine mammals and disrupt marine mammal feeding, calving, breeding, and other vital activities more than 13.5 million times. These impacts would include unacceptable levels of injuries and disturbances to critically endangered species, like the North Atlantic right whale, of which there are less than 500 whales left.
We cannot put our oceans, beaches, marine resources, and coastal economies at risk. We urge your administration to stop this proposed testing and to focus instead on transitioning to a clean, renewable energy future. Please act to stop this activity from going forward.
Sincerely,
Claire Douglass, Campaign Director Oceana Leah Donahey, Arctic Ocean & Reserve Program Director Alaska Wilderness League
Diane Glim, President American Cetacean Society
Sarah Winter, Director Regional Marine Conservation Project American Littoral Society
Susan Millward, Executive Director Animal Welfare Institute
Mary Tilton, Executive Director Back Bay Restoration Foundation
Matt Thomas, Founder BeCause Water
David Helvarg Executive Director, Blue Frontier
Hardy Jones, Executive Director BlueVoice
Adam Roberts, Chief Executive Officer Born Free USA
Jatnna Garcia, President Boston University Environmental Student Organization
Stella Smith, President Carolina Nature Coalition
Miyoko Sakashita, Oceans Director & Senior Attorney Center for Biological Diversity
David Kyler, Executive Director Center for a Sustainable Coast
William W. Rossiter, Executive Director Cetacean Society International
Mike Tidwell, Director Chesapeake Climate Action Network
Lucinda L. Johnston, Executive Director Chart 411
Cecelia Cook, Coordinator Chirping Birds
Timothy Brinson, Founder Citizens against Seismic Airgun Use
Cindy Zipf, Executive Director Clean Ocean Action
Harriet Shugarman, Executive Director Climate Mama
Karla Gunter, Chair Coastal Guardians
Vicki Weeks, Lead Facilitator Coffee Party Savannah
Rav Freidel, Board Member Concerned Citizens of Montauk
Sean Cosgrove, Director of Campaigns Conservation Law Foundation
Stephanie Herron, Volunteer and Outreach Coordinator Delaware Sierra Club
Brenna Goggin, Environmental Advocate Delaware Nature Society
Nancy Azzam, Executive Director Dolphin Connection
Kaela Nye, Co-Chair E3: Ecology, Economy, Equity at UCLA
Trip Van Noppen, President Earthjustice
Brady Bradshaw, Campaign Coordinator Echo Friendly Action
Tara Thornton, Program Director Endangered Species Coalition
Margie Alt, Executive Director Environment America
Bret Fanshaw, Advocate Environment Arizona
Dan Jacobson, Legislative Director Environment California
Kimberly Stevens, Campaign Director Environment Colorado
Chris Phelps, Director Environment Connecticut
Jennifer Rubiello, Field Associate Environment Florida
Jennette Gayer, Director Environment Georgia
Lisa Nikodem, Campaign Director Environment Illinois
Michelle Hesterberg, Federal Field Organizer Environment Iowa
Emily Figdor, Director Environment Maine Joanna Diamond, Campaign Director Environment Maryland
Ben Hellerstein, Field Associate Environment Massachusetts
Samantha Chadwick, Advocate Environment Minnesota
Anneli Berube, Federal Field Organizer Environment Montana Environment Nevada
Madeline Page, Federal Field Associate Environment New Hampshire
Doug O'Malley, Director Environment New Jersey
Sanders Moore, Director Environment New Mexico
Heather Liebowitz, Campaign Director Environment New York
Elizabeth Ouzts, Director Environment North Carolina
Christian Adams, State Associate Environment Ohio
Rikki Seguin, Advocate Environment Oregon
Channing Jones, Campaign Director Environment Rhode Island
Luke Metzger, Director Environment Texas
Sarah Bucci, Campaign Director Environment Virginia
Katrina Rosen, Field Director Environment Washington
Allan Thornton, President Environmental Investigation Agency
Manley Fuller, President Florida Wildlife Federation
Mitch Jones, Common Resources Director Food and Water Watch
Marcie Keever, Oceans & Vessels Program Director Friends of the Earth
Lindsay D'Ambrosio, Coordinator Green Neighbors of DC (Petworth, Brightwood, and Park View)
Jen Wallace, Coordinating Committee Chair Green Party of Delaware
Will Anderson, President Green Vegans / The New Human Ecology
Reverend Fletcher Harper, Executive Director GreenFaith
Phil Kline, Senior Oceans Campaigner Greenpeace
Monica Embrey, North Carolina Organizer Greenpeace - North Carolina
Cynthia Sartou, Executive Director Gulf Restoration Network
Michelle Diamond, Founder Hampton Roads Lights Brigade Peninsula Animal Rights Group
Dede Shelton, Director of Operations Hands Across the Sand
Margaret Cooney, Whale Campaigner International Fund for Animal Welfare
Joe Uehlein, President Labor Network for Sustainability
Alex Taurel, Deputy Legislative Director League of Conservation Voters
Mike Gravitz, Director, Policy & Legislation Marine Conservation Institute
Suzanne Thurman, Executive Director Marine Education Research and Rehab (MERR) Institute
Dr. Susan Shaw, President/Founder Marine Environmental Research Institute
Josh Tulkin, State Director Maryland Sierra Club
Neil Armingeon, Riverkeeper Matanzas Riverkeeper
Margo Pellegrino, Founder Miami2Maine
Scott J. Leonard, Director of Operations Nantucket Marine Mammals Conservation Program (NMMCP)
Anne Poole, President New Jersey Environmental Lobby
Nicole Dallara, Outreach Coordinator New Jersey Sierra Club
Geoffery Santoliquido, Founder No to Offshore Drilling in NC
Todd Miller, Executive Director North Carolina Coastal Federation
Michael Jasny, Director, Marine Mammal Protection Natural Resources Defense Council
Deborah Mans, Executive Director& Baykeeper New York/New Jersey Baykeeper
Zachary Keith, Chapter Organizer North Carolina Sierra Club
Michael Stocker, Director Ocean Conservation Research
Oriana Kalama, Chief Executive Officer Ocean Defender Hawaii
Joey Racano, Director Ocean Outfall Group
Candace Crespi, Campaign Director Oceanic Preservation Society
Howard Garrett, Director Orca Network
Peggy Oki, Project Founder & Director Origami Whales
Allie Sheffield, President PenderWatch & Conservancy
David Masur, Director PennEnvironment Charles Owens, President Peninsula Citizens for the Protection of Whales
Jodi Minion, Wildlife Biologist/Issues Manager People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)
Barbara Gottlieb, Director, Environment & Health Physicians for Social Responsibility
Cindy Parker, MD, MPH Physicians for Social Responsibility (Chesapeake Chapter)
Barbara Tillison, Coordinator Pleasure Island Sea Turtle Project
Archie Kasnet, President Regenerate
Paul Gallay, President and Hudson Riverkeeper Riverkeeper Alliance
Mary M. Hamilton, Executive Director SandyHook SeaLife Foundation
Goffinet McLaren Say No to Plastic Group
Jamie Pollack, Director of Operations Shark Angels
Athan Manuel, Director, Lands Protection Program Sierra Club
Norbert Pink, Chair Sierra Club - Great Falls Group
Rick Keller, Chair Sierra Club - Mt. Vernon Group
Jim Rynolds, Chair Sierra Club - Pisgah Group Judith Gordon, Co-Chair Sierra Club - Savannah River Group
Sam Booher, Chair Sierra Club - Savannah River Group (Augusta)
Eileen Levandoski, Assistant Director Sierra Club- Chesapeake Bay Group (Hampton Roads)
Hamilton Davis, Energy and Climate Director South Carolina Coastal Conservation League
Kurt Henning, Chapter Coordinator South Carolina Sierra Club
Chris Carnevale, Coastal Climate & Energy Coordinator Southern Alliance for Clean Energy
Sierra B. Weaver, Senior Attorney Southern Environmental Law Center
Morgan Cunningham, Founder Stop Seismic Airgun Testing Group
Pete Stauffer, Ocean Program Manager Surfrider Foundation
Clay Davidson, Chair Surfrider- Atlanta Chapter
Ethan Crouch, Chair Surfrider - Cape Fear Chapter
Ashley Harris, Chair Surfrider – Charleston Chapter
Tony Dobson, Chair Surfrider – Charlotte Chapter
Larry Moriarty, Chair Surfrider - Central Long Island Chapter Bill Poutray, Vice Chair Surfrider - Connecticut Chapter
Ed O'Connor, Chair Surfrider - Delaware Chapter
Mike Bottini and Juliana Duryea, Co-chairs Surfrider - Eastern Long Island Chapter Chapter
Erin Handy, Chair Surfrider - First Coast Chapter
Leslie Fried, Chair Surfrider - Grand Strand Chapter
Mike Daniel, Chair Surfrider - Indialantic Chapter
Christine Bell, Chair Surfrider - Jersey Shore Chapter
Chelsea Miller, Chair Surfrider - Maine Chapter
Noona Joseph, Chair Surfrider - Massachusetts Chapter
Scott Stripling, Chair Surfrider - Miami Chapter
Jamie McCallum, Chair Surfrider - New Hampshire Chapter
Nick Lynn, Chair Surfrider - New York City Chapter
Craig Sibal, Chair Surfrider - Ocean City Chapter
Ivy Ingram, Chair Surfrider - Outer Banks Chapter Krissy Halkes, Chair Surfrider - South Jersey Chapter
Sarah Damron, Southeast Region Manager Surfrider - Southeast Region
Carissa Lord, Chair Surfrider - Rhode Island Chapter
Adam Wolff, Chair Surfrider - Virginia Beach Chapter
Ryan Mahler, Chair Surfrider - Volusia/Flagler Chapter
Mike Caruso, Chair Surfrider – Washington, DC Chapter
Jennifer Cribb, Chair Surfsidians
Sharon Young, Marine Issues Field Director The Humane Society of the United States
Richard Charter, Senior Fellow, Coastal Coordination Program The Ocean Foundation
The Sustainability Leadership Center Portland State University
Jeff Pantukhoff, President & Founder The Whaleman Foundation
Teri Shore, Program Director Turtle Island Restoration Network
Glen Besa, Chapter Director Virginia Sierra Club
Adam Flood, Director Victory on the Coast
Paul Burns, Director Vermont Public Interest Research Group
Paula Reidhaar, Riverkeeper Waccamaw Riverkeeper Horry & Georgetown County
Suzanne Golas, Congregation Office Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace Director WATERSPIRIT
Marcia Hanscomb, Director WetlandActionNetwork
Regina Asmutis-Silvia, Executive Director Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society
Lyndia Storey & Lance Leonard, Founders Whale and Dolphin Watch
Laura Philon, Outreach Coordinator Wilmington in Transition
Megan Severson, Advocate Wisconsin Environment
Helen E. Fox, Ph.D., Director, Marine Science World Wildlife Fund
Stephen Fowler, Coordinator 350.org Jersey Shore group